JEDDAH: The Jeddah Summer Festival that attracts millions of visitors every year to the Bride of the Red Sea also brings hardships for the locals.

"It is the worst time of the year for me," said Mustafa Al-Salmani, a Saudi resident of Al-Shati District, located near the Corniche area where many of the festival's events are taking place. He said that the increase in visitors make his life in Jeddah "relatively disturbing."

This year's festival is known by the name of Jeddah Ghair ("Jeddah is Different").

According to Saleh Al-Turki, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, this year's summer festival is expected to attract over three million visitors to Jeddah.

“The event is growing every year and now we have numerous infrastructural constructions that are causing massive traffic jams in regular days, let alone during the festival," Al-Salmani said.

Being near the Corniche area makes going in and out of the Al-Shati district a nightmare for Al-Salmani and many others who reside in the same neighborhood.

"The festival is not for Jeddah residents, it's for the visitors," he said adding that he plans his annual vacation during the festival's time so that he could be away from Jeddah.

Saleh Al-Harthi, resident of Al-Safa district, said that he spends the whole month of the festival in the city of Taif with his family in order to get out of the city's traffic. "People usually get excited when they hear about festivals, but on the contrary we feel depressed," Al-Harthi said adding that the city's infrastructure can barely handle Jeddah's residents much less the influx of tourists.

He said that last year he and his family decided to stay in the city and enjoy the festival activities, which he said was a bad call. "I'm leaving with my family to Taif next week, and we won't be back until the end of the festival," he said.

The city's annual summer festival has become a trademark for the city and an important source of revenue, as economic experts perceive the festival to attract some SR3 billion during its period of 45 days.

Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal inaugurated the festival in Obhur on July 2.